An Array of Utopian Flowers
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12 Reasons to Try Elliott Abrams in the International Criminal Court
Posted on February 15, 2019 | No Comments -
Ecological Amnesia: Life Without Wild Things
Posted on February 9, 2019 | No Comments -
Coup Redux in Venezuela: ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’
Posted on February 3, 2019 | 1 Comment -
Pushing Back Against the Venezuela Coup-Plotters
Posted on January 30, 2019 | 2 Comments -
Angels and Saints in Mosaic at Sicily’s Monreale Cathedral
Posted on January 13, 2019 | No Comments
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WilderUtopia in 102 Languages
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ethnobotany Archive
Ecological Amnesia: Life Without Wild Things
Posted on February 9, 2019 | No CommentsWe have forgotten the flocks of passenger pigeons that blotted out the sun, the herds of bison that shook the ground, and the untamed places in which we destroyed them. This is ecological amnesia. This capacity to forget, this fluidity of memory, has dire implications in a world dense with people, all desperate to satisfy their immediate material needs. Yet, the way forward is land and water protection and regeneration, permaculture, and community reconnection with the wild.
Field Guide to Adventures in Tropical Botany
Posted on May 16, 2017 | No CommentsField Guides to the Wild intrigue Naomi Pitcairn, sharing her adventures in scientific documentation of the wonders of nature, in this case the botanical wealth of the American Tropics.
The Devil’s Paradise of Terence McKenna’s ‘True Hallucinations’
Posted on September 20, 2016 | 1 CommentPsychonaut ethnobotanist Terence McKenna captures the journey along a ghostly trail into the Colombian Amazon Forest, the descent of the Rio Putumayo, and his stumbling upon the "starborn magic mushroom," activated by psilocybin. Watch Peter Bergmann's experimental documentary.
“Embrace of the Serpent” Film: Journey of Healing and Ethnobotany
Posted on April 11, 2016 | 2 CommentsEthnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, one of the most important plant explorers of the 20th century, served as a key inspiration in a recent film called "Embrace of the Serpent." In December 1941, Schultes entered the Amazon to study how indigenous peoples used plants for medicinal, ritual, and practical purposes. After nearly a decade of fieldwork, he made significant discoveries about the sacred hallucinogen ayahuasca. In total, Schultes would collect more than 24,000 species of plants including some 300 species new to Western science.
Ayahuasca: Fake Shamans and The Divine Vine of Immortality
Posted on July 18, 2013 | 8 CommentsEvery day, more and more tourists arrive in Iquitos, Peru, seeking spiritual enlightenment or a psychedelic experience first made popular by William Burroughs and the Beatniks in the 1960s. Unfortunately, some well-paid "shamans" lack the experience or understanding of the powerful and sacred botanical brews used for thousands of years for healing and divination. And the gringos-on-holiday often get over their heads in the wilds of the Amazon.
Matt Pallamary: Guaraní Shaman’s Quest for “Land Without Evil”
Posted on December 17, 2012 | 3 CommentsMatthew Pallamary's acclaimed novel "Land Without Evil," recently performed as an aerial acrobatic stage show, narrates the true story of a young shaman of the Guaraní people of South America facing European conquest and conversion to Catholicism in the 1700s.
Kumeyaay People: Traditions Survive in Baja California
Posted on October 22, 2012 | 5 CommentsGroups of Kumeyaay People live in the isolated canyons of the Tijuana River watershed, high in the Baja California peninsula. They harvest acorns and pine nuts, hunt rattlesnake and small animals, collect grasses to weave baskets. They allow a glimpse of what life in Southern California before the Spanish arrived was like.
Chumash Healing With Spirit: A Tribute to Cecilia Garcia
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 1 CommentTo honor the soul transition of Chumash teacher and healer Cecilia Garcia, we share an article written by her and USC Professor Jim Adams on mind, body and spirit healing.
Self-Healing with Chumash Native Plant Medicine
Posted on October 21, 2011 | 6 CommentsThe late Cecilia Garcia taught Chumash traditional spirit healing with prayers, laughter, dreaming, herbal medicines and aromatherapy, leading to mending the body's physical processes.
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